I Will Disappear, Grand Duke

The dirt on the street was rough. It was a trace that dozens of horses had passed at once.

 All of a sudden he had a bad feeling.  Fernan raised his hand and stopped his knights for a moment.

 “Something strange.  Some protect the high priest and defend the outside of the temple. The rest follow me in secret.”

 "Yes, sir!"

 At his command, the knights were scattered in all directions. Fernan ran through the streets again with only a few knights.

 He turned and headed towards the back of the temple rather than the front entrance.  There was a small passage.

 It was a secret passage that Matheus had told him the other day in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

 After a while, Fernan, who stopped his horse, killed his presence and entered the interior.

 As he went a little deeper inside, the temple in the dawn light was as quiet as nothing had happened.

 However, Fernan sensed a strange atmosphere somewhere.

"Your highness, I'll be back after a secret examination of the internal situation."

 The knight standing next to him whispered softly.  He immediately nodded his head.

 As he turned his steps, he headed towards the parlor.  The dim parlor was also strangely quiet.

 Julia was on the lowest floor of the temple. The entrance to the temple was not inside the temple building.

 A small stone pagoda at the end of the parlor.  It was a passageway leading to a stone staircase placed inside.

 Fernan, who was hastening his steps, stopped halfway.

 Narrowing his eyes, he looked at the guards at the tower.

 Two men were rolling their eyes hard in the dark as if they were watching a net.

 Fernan's eyes, who were looking at them carefully, suddenly flashed coldly.

 Realizing that the uneasy atmosphere he felt here was from them.

 Soon, Fernan walked up to the tower without hiding the sound of his steps.

 “What, who are you?”

 The men, who felt the presence, prepared themselves as if they were wary of the armed man.

 Fernan pulled his hood back roughly, revealing the face he had been hiding.  He pulled out the sword he had hidden behind his waist.

 Before they could pull out their weapons, Fernan swung his sword and slashed them with a single strike.

 As he went inside, he saw several more men standing in front of the barrier leading to the stone stairs.

 And in front of them, there was a priest who was using his holy power to break the barrier. (*the priest who was bought by the Marchioness is breaking the barrier that was protecting Julia)

 “Wait, there is an intruder!”

 When Fernan was fully revealed, the eyes of the men who saw his face widened in surprise.

 The men seemed to know who Fernan was.

 After a moment of pondering, they hurriedly pulled out the swords they had hidden in their arms.

 Fernan's gaze reached the hilt of the sword they had pulled out.  The pattern engraved there was the emblem of the imperial family.

As expected, they were the Emperor's knights.

 There was no time to think deeply about why they were breaking the barrier of the tower where Julia was located.

 As he raised his sword so that the blade could be seen, the men immediately ran towards him.

 “Attack!”

 The sound of metal clashing like that echoed through the tower several times. However, the battle did not last long.

 Having killed four men without difficulty, Fernan thrust his sword into the last remaining one.

 Fernan, who passed the fallen knights without even screaming, looked at the priest with a gleaming gaze.

 The priest, who was breaking the barrier with his holy power, dropped his knees and trembled.

 “Please, spare me.  I, I just……  !”

 Fernan pointed the sword at the priest's neck and murmured dangerously.

 “Speak.”

 Inside the temple there was a priest who had been bribed.  As a result, the emperor's knights were able to infiltrate this tower.

 While Fernan raised his blade, someone shouted from the stone steps beyond the barrier.

 “Your Highness!”

 Fernan stopped his movement and raised his head. Cedric, standing in the middle of the stairs, was looking at him with a surprised expression.

 While he drew the sword he was aiming, Cedric hurriedly broke the barrier.

 Fernan said, grabbing the collar of the trembling priest and handing him over to Cedric.

  “I’m going to take Julia and move her place right away.”

 The reason for keeping the priest alive was to get accurate information about what the emperor ordered.

 Without speaking for a long time, Fernan passed the barrier right away.  Then he quickly descended the stairs and reached the door at the end of the hallway.

 As soon as je opened the door and, Julia, who was lying neatly on the bed, immediately caught his eye.

Looking unchanged from his last memory, she wore a white dress and peacefully closed eyes.

 Fernan, who hurriedly approached, stopped breathing for a moment, capturing her pale face

 Then, carefully reaching out his hand, he held Julia in his arms.

 As soon as they left the tower without delay, Cedric, who had handed over the priest to Matheus, followed after him.

 They left the temple as it was, and got on the carriage that the knights had prepared in advance.

 In the carriage leaving for the Grand Duchy, Cedric spoke in a calm voice.

 “They appeared in the temple just before the Grand Duke arrived.”

 They visited the temple at dawn and knew that Julia was in the tower and tried to break the barrier.  They even convinced Cedric, who was trying to stop them, that they would give him a big reward if he gave up the woman inside.

 “If the Grand Duke had come a little later, perhaps trouble would have happened.”

 As the barrier began to break, Cedric rushed to take Julia with him and tried to use his power.  If he took her with him and used his powers, he probably wouldn't be able to go far, but he had no other option.

 Meanwhile, a commotion suddenly broke out beyond the barrier, and when he hurriedly come out to check, Fernan was killing all the uninvited guests.

 Cedric took a small breath and continued.

 “Actually, someone came to the temple the other day. She asked about the woman the Grand Duke had brought a few months ago and left.”

 Cedric bit his lips.

 “Since then, I have been careful not to leak information, but…  I didn't know there was a traitor in the temple."

 The priest who leaked information and tried to break the barrier said that he had been bribed by the emperor.

 If that priest helped with this task, he would receive an offer to transfer his position to a priest in the Imperial Palace with a huge reward.

 “…as expected.”

 Fernan murmured small without taking his gaze away from Julia, who was in his arms.

 The Emperor was always eager to destroy him, so he would never have looked for anything related to Fernan, even if it was a trivial witness.

 Not only did he send assassins to Carnosia to kill him, he also targeted Julia.

 Fernan's chin tensed up for an instant and then slowly subsided.

 “Let Julia stay in my castle for the time being. The High Priest was also sent there.”

 The carriage carrying Kalosa was heading towards the castle ahead of them.

 By now the emperor would have known that his attempt was in vain, but he would not easily break his attention to the temple.

 So, for now, it was best to take Julia back to his highly guarded territory.

 It would be the safest place under the emperor’s watchful eyes.

 Fernan reached out and gently touched her closed eyelids.

 Afterwards, he touched her chest lightly, as if to make sure her heart was beating.

 He could feel a faint but still beating pulse.

 With the soft beating that seemed to break at any moment, Julia was holding up well.

 Fernan looked at her closed eyelids and pondered for a moment.

 If she loses her memory after drinking holy water, he will let her go.

Obviously that would be right. However …

 Fernan's hand gripped her shoulder, and a slight power was applied for an instant.

 But he wasn't really sure if he could really let Julia go.

 As long as she was in the eyes of the Emperor, she could not be safe anywhere. So, it would be better to protect her by his side.

 …  No, actually, this was also just an excuse.

 Because he just didn't want to separate Julia from his side.

 Fernan closed his eyes slowly.  While he was immersed in thought, there was only silence in the carriage.

 After a long time when no one spoke anymore, the sun began to rise gradually.

 By that time, the carriage safely crossed the border of the Grand Duchy and rushed to the castle.

 “Your Highness.”

 When the carriage finally stopped at the entrance of the castle, the servants who had heard the news in advance stood in line to greet him.

 Fernan got off the carriage and entered the castle without looking at them who were bowing down.

 Kalosa had arrived earlier and was escorted to his bedroom.

 Kalosa, who had been looking around the room slowly, looked back at the sound of the door being opened.

 “I thought my throat was going to fall out from waiting.”

 While Kalosa was muttering in a relaxed voice, Fernan gently laid Julia on the bed.

 “Is she your wife?"

Kalosa, who was looking at her with calm eyes, slowly approached her.

He scanned her with his eyes as if examining Julia's body, Kalosa narrowed her eyes.

 Right now, Julia was barely holding on with very little power.

Ordinary people would not have been able to hold out for so long with such a small force.